Page 142 of Us Deadly Few

“That’s not it, Kanes.”

“Then what is it?! I told you that I’m fine,” Khalani insisted, raising her voice.

Takeshi’s jaw ticked, stubbornly keeping his mouth shut as his gaze drifted to the door.

Ready to be done with the conversation.

“Don’t do that,” she snapped, not letting him off the hook. “Don’t shut me out. Just tell me the truth. You think I’m too weak, right? Isn’t that what you’re trying to say?”

Takeshi’s stare shifted, his intense and heady gaze nearly leveling her. “You shouldn’t have to ask me that. Your strengthisnevera question to me. I know you can fucking handle everything thrown at you.”

“So what’s the problem? We made it this far and we’re getting out of here soon.”

Khalani held onto that hope for dear life, because if the trackers embedded in their bloodstream failed, they’d likely die in that cavern.

“They hurt you.” Takeshi breathed sharply, staring at her like she was the air he didn’t want to breathe.

Khalani rolled her eyes. “I told you I’m f—”

“Donotsay that word again,” he interrupted, the deep tenor in his voice lashing out. “Not when I can see the marks on your face.”

“So what?” she scoffed. “They’ll heal. And that’s why you trained me to fight in the first place, remember?”

“Yes. But I’d rather you not have to use those skills at all.”

“What are you going to do? Lock me in a bedroom when we get out of here?” She laughed incredulously.

He raised an eyebrow, like that was the most intelligent suggestion he’d heard all week.

“No. There will be no locking or hiding.” She couldn’t believe she had to utter those words. “I’ll fight harder and train more, so you don’t think of me as a burden,” she grumbled, crossing her arms and staring at the creaks in the white tile.

For once, Khalani wished she didn’t have to prove her worth to everyone. She wanted people to look at her and already believe she was strong.

“Khalani, look at me.”

Her true name flowing across his tongue was the only thing that made her glance up.

“You’re never a burden,” he stated. “Iknowyou can handle everything life throws at you and punch back even harder. Butif something happened to you—” Takeshi cut himself off, his muscles clenching before glancing away.

Khalani stood, heart pounding against her chest like it might break free. The tremor in her hands betrayed her rippling emotions as she turned away, peering into the empty, white hallway beyond their cell.

The memory of his previous words still haunted her, festering like an open wound.

When Takeshi told her things were over between them, she hurt in places that couldn’t be touched. When he played with her feelings in the nightclub, he made her out to be the biggest fool beneath the surface.

Some wounds heal with time. But hers only deepened.

“Why do you feel the need to protect me, anyway?” Khalani took a deep breath, bitterness coating her tongue. “I don’t even matter that much to you.”

“Is that what you think?”

“It’s what I know.”

“Then you haven’t been paying attention.”

“You haven’t given me much else to go off of!” She spun, glaring back at him. “If I recall, you were onlytoohappy to tell me that everything was finished between us. You’ve already said goodbye more times than I can count. But who am I kidding? Was there ever really an ‘us’ in the first place?”

The chaos inside of her was finally starting to break free, and Takeshi stared at her, a thousand emotions flickering across his face.

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